1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of data management and more particularly to a method and system of transforming and migrating complex learning data comprising course and user structure, management and progress information from a data source to a new target source.
2. Description of the Related Art
Learning management systems provide for the total management of an on-line learning experience—from content creation to course delivery. In the prototypical learning management system, one or more course offerings can be distributed using computer communications network for delivery to students enrolled in one or more corresponding courses. The course offerings can include content which ranges from mere text-based instructional materials to full-blown interactive, live classroom settings hosted entirely through the computer communications network. So advanced to date has the ability of learning management systems to deliver content become, that nearly any learning experience formerly delivered through in-person instruction now can be delivered entirely on-line and even globally over the Internet.
The conventional learning management system can include a learning management server configured to manage the introduction and distribution of course materials to enrolled students. The learning management server further can be configured to import course content and the structure and arrangement of the course content created both by coupled authoring tools and third party authoring tools which can package course content according to any one of the well known course content packaging standards, such as the ADL Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) and Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC). Once imported, online course instances can be created based upon a course master reflecting the packaged course content and metadata describing the structure and arrangement of the course content. The on-line course instances can be cataloged for public availability to registered students and the content reflected within the on-line course instances can be distributed to the students on-demand.
While learning management systems have their obvious benefits, they are relatively new and businesses must eventually face the difficult task of transferring existing learning course structure, progress and management data from a data source associated with a previous learning model, to a new target source associated with the learning management system. However, migrating user and course data from one database structure to another has its inherent difficulties. For example, the Lotus LearningSpace tool incorporates a database of student and course data in a particular format or schema that would not be compatible with a new learning management system that incorporates standard directories for user management such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) servers.
Many data transformation processes that transform data from one or more operational applications to a data warehouse utilize what is known as ETL or Extraction, Transformation and Loading. In this process, data is extracted on a periodic basis from a relational database and transformed before it is loaded into a target database such as a data warehouse. The transformation process however requires the data to be merged from disparate systems, scrubbed for inconsistencies and pre-aggregated for fast analysis.
Typical ETL transformation processes do not provide the flexibility to transform complex learning structures, such as data used in a learning management system, and to integrate existing applications into enterprise applications utilizing corporate directories. Further, ETL schemes using data warehouses as the target databases require keeping the original system's keys in the target data warehouse. It is therefore desirable to have a method and system which overcomes the above-described deficiencies and which provides a flexible process for the customizable and configurable translation of data from one format to another.